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In Sardinia, saffron has a four-year cycle. We plant it in September: after having prepared the land with hard work, we trace the furrows in which, at the same time, we place the corms.
After the flowering of November the rows of the plants remain in the ground until April.
Towards the end of May we operate a first cutting of the grass, which we repeat at the end of September, followed by contour ploughing, to aerate the ground before new production.
At the 4th year, at the beginning of September, we dig up the corms, polish up the thin tunics that cover them and replant them in another plot of land. In fact, the saffron crop impoverishes the land, so every 4 years we alternate the harvest land with other nourishing crops such as leguminoses.
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All our processes are in keeping with ancient traditions, as you can see for yourself by partecipating, in November, excursions among the blooming fields of the saffron flower.
We start with the manual harvesting of the flowers. We do it every morning for about one month and, in the so-called days of "su grofu" ("highest production" in Sardinian language), it requires many people for many hours.
In the evening we sort out the threads (three per flower) and do "sa feidadura". It consists of touching the threads with our fingers lightly dipped in olive oil: this provides brightness and preserves them better. Finally we put the threads to dry.
This delicate intense manual process must be carried out in a short time to get the optimum final product, which makes this genuine crafted spice so valuable, giving its epithet "red gold".
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The harvest
We proceed to the harvest (strictly manual), which will last some hours
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The trugs
The typical trugs with narrow mouth (which prevents the flowers fly away because of wind)
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At home
At home we arrange the flowers on the table...
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Mondatura
... and sort out the threads (three per flower), until night
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